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Sunday, November 28, 2010

from tying tiny twine bows for a minute. My eyes are crossing and my fingers are fumbling so it's time to take a break. :) It's been a busy and productive weekend. Still don't have as much done as I'd like but I wasn't going to give up my nap today. Not with as little sleep as I've gotten lately!

I wanted to post some of my favorite cards from the creative chaos, frenzy and disaster area that my office has become. These cards were shamelessly CASE'd from 3 of my favorite Papertrey Ink designers - Betsy Veldman, Michelle Wooderson & Melissa Phillips. I've linked their creations from the PTI Gallery to their names - if you're asked to login feel free to use my info to do so Krista/scrappy - you don't want to miss their cards. I'd love to hear what you think about my versions of their beautiful cards.

Here's my version of Betsy's card. I loved the colors and was drawn to the star on it. Betsy's card has a beautiful stamped background. With only 3 weeks to prepare for the Holiday Boutique I didn't have enough time to order the PTI stamp set she used - Silent Night. (This set was also used for Michelle & Melissa's cards too.) One thing I like about my version is that I was able to use a non-Christmas paper for the background but still get a Christmas feel from it. And I LOVE being able to create the open star shape with my Spellbinders dies. Crafty Tip: Using the simple and common sewing pin is a fast & economical way to embellish. To make sure no one will get poked by the pins, cut the pointy ends off AFTER putting them thru your ribbon - this will allow them to slide thru the ribbon cleanly and easily.

When I saw Michelle's card I just fell in love. Simple but beautiful. And a glittery snowflake - how can you not love that?? I pulled out the Sizzix snowflake dies that have gathered dust for so long in my room, some fine, white, iridescent glitter (now pretty much on EVERYTHING in my office) and went looking thru my stamp sets. The Elegant Flourishes set from Autumn Leaves that's been forgotten about gave me the mix of thick and thin flourshes and I used a small snowflake from TPC's Snowflake set in place of stars.

Melissa's card, as usual, was elegant and had such pretty details. This one shows how good design still works when you change almost everything out on it. Again, without the stamp set I wasn't able to create a stamped background. This gorgeous paper from My Mind's Eye stood in beautifully. And I opted to use another of the images cut from the Graphic 45 paper instead of a stamped image. I really like that strip of kraft cardstock that the image rests on and the ribbon covers. It was literally a scrap cut off from a previous project.

And one more Old Fashioned Christmas card. This one tickled me because I the purple paper I used to mat the Graphic 45 image on has lived at my house since sometime in 2002. No kidding! It was from an old Club Scrap kit that had an architectural theme. How cool does that little bit of embossing look peeking out from around the Santa image??!! You'd never know it was a non- holiday paper! And it picks up the little bit of purple that is in the image's frame. I added a few embellishments to the image - some Liquid Applique heat set to give it a puffy appearance, some rhinestones on the large holly and covered the whole thing with Liquid Laminate to give it a glossy look and finally some twine and a button.

Friday, November 26, 2010

This challenge had me stumped. I had to CASE, or copy, the featured card. CASE actually stands for something but my brain is blank right now. :) The design of the card is simple, straight forward and so pretty. But I was stumped as I didn't have any PTI flower images. So I let it percolate in the back of my brain. And as is usually the case something came bubbling up when I least expected it.

I'm delighted by the final result. I printed the background text on the computer, lined my card up over the text on the printer paper and put it back thru. Viola! Background text that coordinates with my theme. Then I stamped the candy cane image from TT: Christmas on top of it, colored the stripes on them with red Spica. The focal image is from the Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers Set colored in with R46, shaded with R39 and the white colored with the clear Spica. Stitched the image to some red scrap paper laying on my desk and tied a red satin bow. One of my favorite things to do with bows is to add a safety pin to it. Putting the safety pin thru the bow gave me a perfect opportunity to use the Friendship Jar Fall Filler label image with the matching jar label die and stamp a sentiment from the Holiday Filler set.

While my finished product doesn't include the beautiful flower images or even the soft ink distressing I think it does show that good design is good design no matter what. You can change out colors, images and even elements (my pin & label rather than the original button) and you'll still have a good result.

And now that I've played a little today, I'm okay with getting some work done. *sigh* First more dishes from yesterday - one thing about having men over vs. women over for a dinner is that they don't do the dishes for you! and then I'll be trying to crank out more stuff for the Holiday Boutique. Hoping to get a calendar or two done.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

PTI challenged everyone to create gift tags. How'd Nicole know this was right up my alley lately?? I've been creating gift tags to sell at the Holiday Boutique. Here are a few pictures of them. I used a wide variety of supplies for these and really just had fun with them.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Sharing a couple of the cards I've created the last few days. Still busy working away creating items for the upcoming Holiday Boutique. I have so many ideas for things I want to do but am afraid that there isn't going to be time. Someone stockpile the Mountain Dew! I may need to pull a few all nighters!

Crafty Tips:
- If you need to make a number of cards but need to keep cost down, look for paper with multiple images in boxes like this one from Graphic 45. There are 10 different images I can cut out and use to create cards with.
- Simple additions to these images, like rhinestones, Stickles or fluff, can up the wow factor quickly & easily.
- To really highlight the "olden" & shappby feel ink your image up and or distress the edges of it.
- If you'll be hand delivering your cards, don't be afraid of dimension! And don't worry about stuffing it into an envelope either. Create a matching paper bag to hold your card. Check out these from one of my favorite crafty people, Michelle Wooderson.

- Just as you can alter the color of your paper, don't forget about altering the color of your embellishments! The button on my Proclamation card was bright white. I liked the style but the color just wasn't going to work for me. Enter my Copics and airbrushing! You don't have to have those items to recolor your embellishments - consider using alcohol inks, paint markers, acrylic paint or even fingernail polish!
- It's difficult to tell from the scan but this --> Santa has been given a glossy coating and had a clear glitter sprinkled over him. Two little details that add big wow.

I've got a bunch more partially started designs sitting here beside me waiting to be completed. I'll share them once they're done.

Lastly, I wanted to share what the house looked like at this month's 2nd Saturday Girls Night Out. The "Girls" were completely outnumbered! Mel ordered the UFC fight and told Bret to invite a few friends. This picture was taken when I could still easily get into the living room. :) In the end there were over 20 people packed into the room. Irony?? The big fight everyone wanted to see, lasted all of 21 seconds.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

I've been a busy little bee the last few days. Running, or should that be flying?, hither, thither & yon and crafting. I just wanted to pop on and share one of the things I've created lately just because I really liked it. :)

This one was actually so simple but detailed. Very easy to mass produce - which I'm sure I will. I like the non-traditional colors that I ended up with purely by accident. I'm betting this would be sweet in the typical color scheme too. I'll have to try it and see!

A couple of simple stamped images, 3 rhinestones, Silver Spica pen and some airbrushing with the brush end of my marker (hands down my favorite look) and the main image was done. Mat, sew and viola!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Over at the Playhouse we were challenged to create a card with no layers. Yikes! This one has actually been the toughest challenge yet for me. I don't consider myself a stamper - though I was told yesterday I can no longer say that - so not being able to lean on my patterned papers, stitching and cardstock was daunting!

I've been on a kraft cardstock kick lately and seeing as how I buy new markers every chance I get, I wanted to do something with my Copics too. So, no layers, kraft card base and Copics...........

This is what I came up with. Not totally in love but I see some potential for building from. And since I didn't like the first attempt, I had to try two more times. :) I'm thinking of adding ribbon or twine to these and then I'll like them much better. Wasn't quite sure if the ribbon would count as a layer so I left it off for the challenge.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Points to the first person that knows the musical reference in my title. :)

I certainly haven't meant to be away from the blog for a week but life got in the way of talking with all of my imaginary friends. Doncha hate it when that happens??!!

I wanted to post the cards for this weekends Copic Club class at The Creative Quest. If you're still interested after that I'll share some of what's kept me away from the computer.

I just loved this image from My Favorite Things stamps and knew it was perfect for this month's colors and technique. (You can find all of that info posted under the Class Projects tab).

The next card that I created for class is this one featuring the Shake It! cards and stamps from Impression Obsession. I LOVE these Shake It! cards and will be doing lots more of them I'm sure. And because these are so thin, there won't be any extra postage! Woo Hoo!

As for what's kept me away from my computer, I've been a busy girl! I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in a craft fair last weekend by my friend Julie. As so often happens, it wasn't the event but the connections you make while you're there that make them worthwhile. Julie & I met Holly Hunt, the Chief Leaf at Fleur de Teas. Holly has a totally adorable tea shop at 16th Street & Bethany Home and asked both of us to bring our cards and crafts to her for consignment. I've been wanting to do this for a long time and just haven't made it a priority. Sometimes life comes along and kicks you in the behind! I'll be taking advantage of this opportunity for sure! So if you're in the area, heck even if you aren't!, stop in to see Holly, sip some tea and browse around.

I've also been busy creating and teaching the Peace Banner class. I have to say I was amazed and beyond delighted with the creative changes students made to their banners in class. That is one of my very favorite things about teaching. Seeing where someone takes the project from my starting point. Hope to be able to share pics when I get them.

I've also been brainstorming an album concept to turn into a class in the new year. I'm beyond excited about it and hope others will be too. It will feature this Artist Edition Notebook from Fancy Pants. I fell in love with all of the papers in this notebook but was so sad to find out that the only way to get them was in this spiral bound form. What's a creative girl to do?? Well, for starters, it'll be taken apart, reorganized and then turned into an album that features a TON of journaling - those awesome lines on the back are perfect for this! - and layouts about me. Or you, if you're taking the class. :) It'll be a serial class to spread out the work and I'll warn you, there'll be homework. But it'll be fun. I promise. Look for details in a month or so.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

In honor of election day, I thought I'd share a State of Me with everyone.

Right now I am happy. Just that. Happy. I'm happy to be married to one of the best guys you'll eve meet. I'm happy in our home. I'm happy. Just that simple state has taken so much to achieve. So I'm going to enjoy it.

Bret is back living at home. Working at being sober. I'm seeing something different in him this time. I truly hope that he's able to work his program and get better. When the real Bret, aka Dr Jekyll, is here I'm happy. He's such a cool kid. It's just that Mr Hyde is not welcome here. Ever.

A traumatic birthday passed me by with barely a notice. And it looks like I may get the one wish I really wished for but would never say out loud.

So there you go. I'm happy. I'll be back with something crafty soon. Making pigs in a blanket for dinner. How can you not be happy when you've got pigs in a blanket for dinner??!